Stored wood is often colonized by bacteria and fungi which degrade the condition of the wood and also create potential health hazards for woodworkers who are exposed to inhalation of the sawdust contaminated with microorganisms and their products. Airborne wood dust may contain bacterial and fungal allergens, endotoxins produced by gram-negative bacteria, and tremorgenic mycotoxins which can cause immunopathogenic changes and pulmonary diseases in exposed individuals.
Occupational exposure to wood dust is suspected as being a cause of respiratory diseases such as hypersensitivity pneumonitis (allergic alveolitis), asthma and chronic obstructive lung disease (COLD). The etiology of there diseases is not fully known; however, both the allergenic and/or toxic constituents of wood tissue itself and the substances produced by microorganisms developing in wood have been suggested as being potential causative agents. Many species of allergenic and/or toxic molds developing on wood including Alternaria tenuis, Aspergillus fumigatus, Cryptostroma corticale, Mucor spp., Paecilomyces spp., Penicillium spp., and Rhizopus spp. have been known to be causative agents of pulmonary diseases in woodworkers.
The quantitation and identification of microorganisms developing in particular kinds of wood are important to both wood technology and occupational health. However, existing methods of microbiological examination of the wood do not provide accurate quantitative data and are not sufficiently useful for both sciences. Usually, two-step procedures are used that include cutting of blocks or discs from wood by common hand tools or core borers, followed by sterilizing of the surface of the blocks by flaming. The samples are then split into small chips for inoculation by direct plating on the surface of agar media. Other methods include direct collection of the chips from a chisel, a saw blade, or the head surface of a drill or a grinder. Most of the existing methods are cumbersome and do not allow for the sterile collection of microbiological samples which is necessary for accurate quantitative examination. Moreover, existing methods involve processes which do not dependably pulverize wood samples enough for the effective extraction of the indigenous microbial flora and subsequent separation and counting of isolates.
The present invention is an improvement over existing wood sampling apparatus and method which provides for one-step sampling and collection apparatus and methods for accurately determining the concentration of microorganisms in a weight unit of wood and species composition of the microflora in wood.